Professional Practice
Public Practice: Representation
Public Practice Landscape Architecture: Representation
Public practice landscape architects represent the public’s interests helping balance environmental, physical, social, and economic considerations along with the interests and values of various constituents, community groups and agency goals and objectives. They are tasked with ensuring that all interests are represented in the decision-making process and have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and welfare in an ethical and professional manner. Several factors that public practice landscape architects consider when representing the public’s interests include:
- Understanding the requisite knowledge that underlies effective decision-making and being is able to describe where anomalies or flaws may occur in the decision-making process for his/her/their area of expertise
- The ability to utilize their experience to lead work groups typically comprising experts in specified areas of knowledge or practice
- Supporting the definition and approval of processes and policies, rules and procedures, and communicating the contexts in which these are applied in the decision-making process
Public practice landscape architects serve as agency liaisons, task force members, subject-matter experts, and team leaders. As public guardians, they help ensure that appropriate coordination and collaboration occurs on all matters related to the planning, development, and management of public assets. They play an integral role in public representation through their efforts to:
- Oversee coordination of three separate but closely related activities: policy development, cross-agency coordination and oversight of government operations
- Build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships, facilitate communications and coordinate activities amongst agencies, organizations, and the public
- Help identify problems in communications among these groups and assists in conflict resolution
- Resolve issues relevant to project deliverable(s) within his/her/their area of expertise
- Assist in reducing delays, increasing transparency and understanding of the status of requests, and assisting in the resolution of disputes
- Translate technical information into comprehensible language
- Explore and recommend suitable innovative, technological, and logistical solutions that can be implemented to enhance project delivery and organizational success
- Provide public information outlining the public asset inventory and management practices
- Identify necessary enforcement actions when reviewing planned and implemented projects
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